Every rose has its thorn,” the song goes, but not every rose has electronic wires running through its body. The futuristic idea of plant cyborgs is making the leap from science fiction to real-world science.
What’s the big deal?
A team of Swedish researchers has been working on ways to regulate plant growth, using electronic wires grown inside the plants own nutrient channels to host sensors and drug-delivery systems. The aim is to provide just the right amount of plant hormones at just the right time. Such efforts could provide even more precise human control over plant production and agriculture